Jan. 6 probers: New info means hearings in July

The Jan. 6 committee will stretch out its gripping series of hearings into July as mountains of new evidence have poured into the panel investigating former President Donald Trump’s role in the attack on the Capitol.

On Thursday, the nine-member panel will hear from former Justice Department officials who refused Trump’s entreaties to declare the election “corrupt.”

Former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who took over after Barr resigned, and his deputy, Richard Donoghue, will testify about how they successfully resisted that pressure.

Following this week’s hearings (photo), the panel will take a break and resume next month with future sessions expected to cover domestic extremism and Trump’s actions inside the White House, will be held in July. And they may not be the last before the panel issues final reports later this year.

“There’s been a deluge of new evidence since we got started. And we just need to catch our breath, go through the new evidence, and then incorporate it into the hearings we have planned,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told reporters.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) called it a “mountain” of new details.

The new evidence includes recently-turned-over video footage from a British documentarian of the attack as well as interviews with Trump, his children and former Vice President Mike Pence, who has declined to talk to the panel despite being targeted by Trump’s violent mob of extremist supporters on Jan 6.

The committee is also pushing hard for the testimony of ex-White House counsel Pat Cipollone, one of the key players as Trump hatched his scheme to stay in power after losing the election to President Biden.

Another panel member suggested they could still subpoena Pence — it’s “certainly a possibility,” said California Rep. Adam Schiff.

“We would still, I think, like to have several high-profile people come before our committee,” Schiff said.